London, Printed for Nathaniel Thompson, next dore to the Sign of the Cross-Keys in Fetter-Lane, 1680.
Folio. (VIII),243,(1 blank) p. Calf 32 cm (Ref: ESTC Citation No. R4123; Hoffmann 3,82; Ebert 16760 'Wurde verboten, weil man die Noten antichristlich fand'; Graesse 5,274) (Details: Back with 5 raised band. Blind tooled double fillet border on both boards. Title in red and black. Woodcut text illustration, which represents a diagram of the philosophic schools in antiquity) (Condition: Binding scuffed. Back rubbed. Joints weak, partly starting to split. Boards spotted. Paper browning and foxed. Endpapers worn and browning) (Note: Few books have over a long period of time aroused so much upheaval among Christians as this biography of the neopythagorean ascetic and wandering philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, written by the Greek sophist and rhetor Philostratus at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. This is the first English translation of the first 2 books (of 8) of this Life of Apollinius of Tyana. The translation was speedily condemned and suppressed by the Church of England, because it was held to be a most dangerous attempt against the church. Only a few copies were sent abroad. Apollonius was born in the same year when Jesus Christ is supposed to be born. It is almost impossible to reveal Apollonius' true identity, or to decide wether this is a biography of a real or fictionalized hero, or just an Heliodoran romance or a romantic hagiography, or even a documentary romance. The question can be dealt from so many angles, that the Philostratean studies constitute a separate branch in the research of the culture of the Early Roman Empire. The problem is 'that Philostratus, as a man of letters and sophist full of passion for Greek romance and for the studies in rhetoric, was hardly interested in the historical Apollonius'. (Dzielska,M., 'Apollonius of Tyana in legend and history', Rome 1986, p. 14) A fact is that contemporary sources reveal next to nothing about Apollonius. Philostratus wrote the biography at the behest of the empress Julia Domna Augusta. 'To satisfy the empress's demand, who asked him (Philostratus) to narrate the life and achievements of Apollonius, he had to invent this figure as it were anew. Thus using his literary imagination, this moderately gifted writer turned a modest Cappadocian mystic into an impressive figure, full of life, politically outstanding, and yet also preposterous'. (Idem, p. 14) Nothing proves that the 'Vita Apollonii Tyanensis' was widely read in the 3rd century. It would probably not have survived, were it not for the gouvernor of Bithynia, Sossianus Hierocles, one of the inspirators of the persecution of the Christians in 301 A.D. in his province under the emperor Diocletian. At the beginning of the 4th century he published his 'Philaletes', a treatise against Christianity, in which he ridiculed the divine attributes of Christ, and praised Apollonius' virtues and thaumaturgic abilities. In the 'Philaletes' Hierocles propagated his pagan Christ Apollonius. The Christians were furiously enraged, because Hierocles dared to contrast Apollonius with their Saviour. The Christians won under Constantine, and the 'Philaletes' vanished soon from the face of earth. It is only known through the 'Against Hierocles', a treatise of the Churchfather Eusebius. The 'Vita Apollonii Tyanensis', in which it was believed that Apollonius was presented as the equal, if not the superior of Christ, survived however the burning of pagan literature by Christian mobs in early christianity. Translations of the 'Vita' which began to appear in the 16th century were immediately put under ecclesiastical ban. The English translation of 1680, by the leisured gentleman Charles Blount, 1654-1694, a deist and freethinking philosopher, and especially his notes, raised such an outcry among christian believers in England that the book was condemned by the Church of England in 1693, banned and its further publication forbidden. Hoffmann observes that the stock might have been burned (vielleicht verbrant). On what ground he thinks so, is not clear. Still, 'fierce passions were let loose. Sermons, pamphlets and volumes descended upon the presumptuous Blount like fireballs and hailstones, and his adversaries did not rest until the authorities had forbidden him to print the remaining six book of his translation'. (R.W. Bernard, 'Apollonius, the Nazarene', 1956, p. 10) Blount persisted that if the miracles of Apollonius were untrue, so were those of Jesus. In his preface Blount is very cautious. He presents the 'Life' as being 'no more than a bare narrative of the Life of a Philosopher, not of a new Messiah'. Philostratus never even mentions Christ, he says. 'And if one Heathen Writer (Hierocles) did make an ill use of this History, by comparing Apollonius with Christ, what is that to Philostratus, who never meant nor design'd it so'. (Preface p. A2 verso) Blount had already finished the translation of all 8 books, he tells the reader, 'when I found the Alarm was given in all parts what a Dangerous Book was coming out; (...) which might therefore prove of pernicious consequence of the Publick'. He fears for his life he says, and therefore publishes only the first 2 books. 'I have thought fit to proroque the remaining part of this history'. (p. A3 verso) Especially Blount's very elaborate illustrations and annotations to the text were considered to be dangerous atheist freethinking. A century later Blount's notes were translated into French and published in Amsterdam in 1779. It was ironically dedicated to Pope Clement XIV by one 'Philaletes') (Collation: A-Z4, Aa-Gg4, H6) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)
Leipzig (Lipsiae), Apud Thomam Fritsch, 1709. (Colophon at the end: 'Typis Christophori Fleischeri, an. MDCCIX')
Folio. (VIII),XLIII, (I);987 p. Vellum 37 cm (Ref: Hoffman 3,77/78; Ebert 16744a; Brunet 4,619; Graesse 5,273; not yet in VD18) (Details: Back with 6 raised bands. Boards with blindstamped borders. Blindstamped floral ornament in the center of the boards. Title in red and black. Woodcut printer's mark on the title: a pegasus flying among the clouds. Text in 2 columns, Greek with parallel Latin translation. The commentary is printed on the lower part of the pages. Occasional text engravings) (Condition: Vellum age-toned, spotted and scuffed. Front joint split, but strong. Rear joint starting to split. Endpapers worn and waterstained. Small blind stamp near the lower edge of the title. Paper browning, occasionally severe foxing) (Note: The Suda, a 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia, knows three Greek sophists called Philostratus, three generations living between 160 and 250 A.D. The first one is thought to have written most works, the 'Vita Apollonii' (Life of Apollonius), the 'Vitae Sophistarum' (Biographies of Sophists), the 'Gymnastikos', the 'Heroikos', the 'Eikones', and 'Dialexeis', and a collection of 73 letters, mostly love letters. (Neue Pauly 9, Philostratos 5-8) In the first years of the third century Philostratus moved to Rome, where he entered the court of the emperor Septimius Severius. There he wrote ca. 307 A.D. at the behest of the empress Julia Domna Augusta, whose favour he enjoyed, a biography of the neopythagorean ascetic and wandering philosopher, and also miracle-monger, Apollonius of Tyana. Few books have over a long period of time aroused so much upheaval among Christians as this biography. Apollonius was born in the year when Jesus Christ is supposed to be born. It is almost impossible to reveal Apollonius' true identity, or to decide whether this is a biography of a real or fictionalized hero, or just an Heliodoran romance or a romantic hagiography, or even a documentary romance. The question can be dealt from so many angles, that the Philostratean studies constitute a separate branch in the research of the culture of the Early Roman Empire. The problem is 'that Philostratus, as a man of letters and sophist full of passion for Greek romance and for the studies in rhetoric, was hardly interested in the historical Apollonius'. (Dzielska,M., 'Apollonius of Tyana in legend and history', Rome 1986, p. 14) A fact is that contemporary sources reveal next to nothing about Apollonius. 'To satisfy the empress's demand, who asked him (Philostratus) to narrate the life and achievements of Apollonius, he had to invent this figure as it were anew. Thus using his literary imagination, this moderately gifted writer turned a modest Cappadocian mystic into an impressive figure, full of life, politically outstanding, and yet also preposterous'. (Op. cit. p. 14) Nothing proves that the 'Vita Apollonii Tyanensis' was widely read in the 3rd century. It would probably not have survived, were it not for the gouvernor of Bithynia, Sossianus Hierocles, one of the inspirators of the persecution of the Christians at the beginning of the third century in his province under the emperor Diocletian. At the beginning of the 4th century he published his 'Philaletes', a treatise against Christianity, in which he ridiculed the divine attributes of Christ, and praised Apollonius' virtues and thaumaturgic abilities. In the 'Philaletes' Hierocles propagated his pagan Christ Apollonius. The Christians were furiously enraged, because Hierocles dared to contrast Apollonius with their Saviour. The Christians won under Constantine, and the 'Philaletes' vanished soon from the face of earth. It is only known through the 'Against Hierocles' a treatise of the Churchfather Eusebius. The 'Vita Apollonii Tyanensis', in which it was believed that Apollonius was presented as the equal, if not the superior of Christ, survived however the burning of pagan literature by Christian mobs in early christianity. The 'Vitae Sophistarum', is a collection of biographies of 59 Greek sophists of the so-called Second or New Sophistic. Philostratus consulted their works, but used also the oral tradition. This work is a valuable source for the history of philosophy from Nero to the beginning of the third century. The 'Gymnastikos' is a treatise on Greek athletics. In the 'Heroikos' the ghosts of Heroes, especially Protesilaos, tell remarkable particulars about themselves. The 'Imagines', the description of paintings, of Philostratus and the 'Descriptio statuarum' , the description of statues, written by Callistratus, belong to the rhetorical genre of 'ecphrasis', in which the relation of the verbal and visual was explored. Ancient Greek rhetoricians defined it as a 'speech that brings the thing shown vividly before the eyes', for instance the famous description of the Shield of Achilles by Homer in the 18th book of the Iliad, vs. 478/608. 'In modern criticism ecphrasis has come to be defined as the 'description of a work of art, a category that may be restricted to the visual arts (painting and sculpture) or expanded to include architecture and other arts'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 291, s.v. Ecphrasis) The German theologian and classical scholar Gottfried Olearius, 1672 - 1715, was appointed professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Leipzig in 1699. In 1693 he started a journey which brought him to Oxford and Cambridge, where he stayed for more than a year to study Greek manuscripts. (ADB 24, 277/78; he has also a lemma in Wikipedia) (Provenance: At the lower edge of the title a blind imprint of a small oval stamp, in the center of which an imperial eagle. The legend reads: 'empire francais zuiderzée, decret du .. vrier, 181?'. Napoleon annexed in 1810 the Netherlands into the French empire. The provinces North Holland and Utrecht were transformed into the 'Département Zuiderzée'. The legend probably refers to the 'decret du 5 février 1810' (decree of the 5th february 1810) in which Napoleon regulated the booktrade. On the front pastedown has been pasted a small paper label reading: 'Henry Bousquet') (Collation: pi4, a-e4, f2 (leaf f2 verso blank); A-6H4, 6I2 (leaf 6I2 verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)
Groningen, Styx, 1993.
(XIV),322 p. Wrs. (Diss.)
Amst., Gieben, 1995.
(XI),276 p. Cl. 25 cm (A revised translation of the diss. of 1993)
Alciphron, Aelian, Philostratus - Benner Allen Rogers, Fobes Francis H. (translation):
Reference : 24469
(1949)
Cambridge / London, Harvard University Press / William Heinemann ltd., Loeb Classical Library, 1949. In-12, pleine percaline titrée or, jaquette. Petites déchirures avec manques à la jaquette, pour le reste en belle condition.
PHILOSTRATUS the LEMNIAN ( III ) - Blaise de VIGNERE ( translator ) :
Reference : 33725
" Paris, Chez Mathieu Guillemot, rue Sainct Jaques a la bibliotecque, 1637, in-folio, engraved title page + (16)nn pp + 921 pp + (47) nn pp with 67 large engravings (65 in the first part, 2 in second part = La Suite de Philostrate). Bound in contemporary full leather, rebacked, raised spine with gilt title, ex-library Brooklyn Library, James Bell collection, with green label on front cover and another label on the first paste-down, also on the first paste down an 18th century engraved ex-libris of D.F. Du Meiz , Praepositi B.M.V. Erfordiae. The words '' Brooklyn Public Library '' neatly perforated on the title and pp. 97, marginal loss of paper on pp. 15, 19, 547, no loss of text, clear old waterstains in the margin of the index pages. Notwithstandings these defects still a fine/good and complete copy with fine printings of the plates. These plates were engraved by Leonard Gaultier and Thomas de Leu after designs by Antoine Caron and Jasper Isac. Third illustrated edition of Blaise de Vigenère's French translation of the Imagines of the Philostrati. The Imagines of the elder Philostratus is a description of sixty-four pictures in a gallery at Naples, the continuation by Philostratus III describes 17 pictures. Goethe, Welcker and Brunn among others have held that the descriptions are of actually existing works, Heyne and Friedrichs deny this. Vigenère's French translation with commentary was first published in 1578. It was an important iconographical source book in the 17th century. See Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration, 23. The Bibliothèque Nationale list 5 editions of this book each with a different date but with the same collation; 1614 , 1615, 1629, 1630, 1637. It should be ascertained that these are really different editions. We notice that the printer's name and date of publication are engraved on a small oval vignette which fits into the engraved title page."
Zürich, Meyer & Zeller, (1844).
X,XVI,449,80,26 p. H.cl. 28 cm (Text & commentary)(Fold and small tear in title; small inkstain on title; slightly foxed)